Bhumjaithai, Democrats gain seats in EC vote tally

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia
Election Commission chair Ittiporn Boonpracong gestures during a press conference to update the vote count on May 15. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Election Commission chair Ittiporn Boonpracong gestures during a press conference to update the vote count on May 15. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)

The Election Commission (EC) has rounded off its vote count, revealing an additional constituency MP seat for the Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) at the expense of the Move Forward Party (MFP), according to the EC.

Also, in the list system, the Democrat Party gained an extra seat while the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) lost one from an earlier tentative count.

With the vote count well and truly over, the EC will be releasing official election results in due course after the poll commissioners approve the rounded-off figures. A source said the poll regulator was preparing to officially announce the vote count which has now finished.

For many days after the May 14 polls, the count in the commission’s ECT Report system appeared static at 99%, which showed the MFP, the biggest party to emerge from the election, had received 113 House seats in the constituency method and the BJT, 67 seats.

A delay in the constituency vote count in Prachin Buri’s Constituency 3 had kept the final figure from being finalised. Constituency 3 is where the candidates of the BJT and the MFP were competing neck and neck.

An earlier report showed the MFP candidate had a narrow lead although the complete vote count has instead confirmed a win for the BJT candidate. As such, the MFP’s initial constituency MP tally of 113 seats is now reduced to 112 whereas the BJT’s constituency MP number was bumped up from 67 to 68.

The number of constituency MP seats were tied between the MFP and the Pheu Thai, at 112 each.

When combined with the list-MP seats, the MFP’s overall MP tally stands at 151, Pheu Thai at 141 and Bhumjaithai at 71.

Also, the Democrats have seen their list-MPs rise from two to three, with third place secured by Banyat Bantadtan, a former party leader.

However, that cost the PPRP one of two list seats it was reported to have gained earlier. The party now only has one list seat which goes to its leader, Prawit Wongsuwon.

Continue Reading

Police look at resale of cyanide

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn arrives at the Royal Thai Police Sports Club in Bangkok on May 10 to question a witness in the cyanide poisoning case. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasil)
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn arrives at the Royal Thai Police Sports Club in Bangkok on May 10 to question a witness in the cyanide poisoning case. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasil)

Police will press charges against a company that imported cyanide compounds and sold them to other retailers, after an investigation determined that alleged serial killer, Sararat “Aem Cyanide” Rangsiwuthaporn, had purchased the cyanide she used to kill at least 13 people from a reseller.

Deputy national police chief, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, met the deputy director of the Department of Industrial Works (DIW), Pornyod Klankrong, on Thursday to discuss the country’s regulations on cyanide imports as public pressure mounts for the police to prevent such an incident from happening again.

The meeting, he said, was meant to find ways to plug loopholes in Thailand’s Hazardous Substances Act, and to see if there were any companies which were illegally reselling cyanide they had lawfully imported, to other parties.

He said authorities have enough evidence to press charges against one company, which police believe resold the cyanide it acquired to other parties.

The company had brought in 1,600 bottles of cyanide, 100 of which ended up with six other retailers.

“It is against the law because the sale of cyanide is restricted to research purposes or factory operations,” he said.

According to Pol Gen Surachate, a police investigation has found that at least nine other people had bought cyanide in a similar manner to Ms Sararat in order to commit suicide.

He said the police would continue their investigation and submit their report to the DIW as soon as the probe wraps up.

Continue Reading

Absentee factory owner to be charged

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia
Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin orders the Department Of Employment, Social Security Office, Department of Skill Development and Department of Labor Protection and Welfare to offer help to laid-off workers. (File photo)
Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin orders the Department Of Employment, Social Security Office, Department of Skill Development and Department of Labor Protection and Welfare to offer help to laid-off workers. (File photo)

The labour minister has ordered the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare to press charges against the owner of Grand UB Co, a furniture factory in Chon Buri, after its closure resulted in its 63 workers being laid off without payment.

Factory worker Somchai Suksamran, 55, said Grand UB Co announced its closure suddenly on Tuesday, effective the next day.

Mr Somchai said the owner had not visited the factory for a long while, leaving the manager to supervise the operation. However, the employees have not been able to reach the manager after learning of the factory’s shutdown.

He said his salary was 13,000 baht per month, and his compensation should be 170,000 baht.

The company cited in its announcement that it had faced a liquidity crisis over the past three years, resulting in the layoffs. All 63 workers were reported to have experienced delays in being paid.

Another worker, Prapan, 49, said the company had not paid him or any of his colleagues since last October.

He said none of them had a clue that the factory was about to shut down. Now they are concerned they may never receive the unpaid wages.

The workers have lodged a complaint with Ko Chan Police in Chon Buri, according to reports.

Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin has ordered the Department Of Employment, Social Security Office, Department of Skill Development and Department of Labor Protection and Welfare to offer help to the laid-off workers.

On Wednesday, he posted on his official Facebook page that he had sent aid such as food, stipends and other essentials to the workers’ families.

“I have drafted a new bill to establish a fund for workers in case of sudden layoffs. It is a joint project among labour leaders, company owners and government officials,” he wrote.

Mr Suchart added that he hopes the next labour minister will continue his effort and pass the law in parliament.

Continue Reading

F-35 purchase now ruled out

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

Time constraints kill pricey jet procurement

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) said its proposed procurement of F-35 fighter jets has fallen through due to time constraints.

AVM Prapas Sonjaidee, an air force spokesman, explained on Thursday what time constraints prevented the US from supplying its fifth-generation fighter jets to the Thai air force.

AVM Prapas said the US requires a minimum of 10 years to process its supply of F-35A jets to a new buying country before delivery.

As part of that, the buying country needs to install specific infrastructure, training and security systems, as the jets are designed with new technical and operational concepts and possess stealth capability, he said.

In addition, he said the logistics, inventory and management systems for F-35A jets differ from those of the F-16 jets, making it impossible for the two types of fighter jets to share infrastructure.

However, he said the US intends to discuss necessary preparations for a future supply of F-35A jets to the RTAF with Thai authorities.

The US has also proposed that the RTAF consider purchasing its 4th-generation fighter jets, namely F-16 Block 70 and F-15 E Strike Eagle fighters, to Thailand, which can be delivered sooner and meet the air force’s requirements, AVM Prapas said.

The spokesman insisted on the air force’s need to replace its older F-16 jets, which are approaching decommissioning.

On Jan 11, the cabinet approved the RTAF’s plan to purchase four F-35A jets starting in the next fiscal year this October with a budget of 13.8 billion baht.

When the request is officially turned down, the air force needs to return the 369.1 million baht or an advance payment of 5% approved by the House of Representatives to the state, said an RTAF source.

According to the source, the RTAF is still considering buying another fleet of Gripen fighter jets from Sweden’s Saab AB. The air force had bought a fleet of 12 Gripen fighters which are based at Wing 7 in Surat Thani but lost one in a crash.

Continue Reading

BJT, Dems gain seats in EC vote tally

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia
Election Commission chair Ittiporn Boonpracong gestures during a press conference to update the vote count on May 15. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Election Commission chair Ittiporn Boonpracong gestures during a press conference to update the vote count on May 15. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)

The Election Commission (EC) has rounded off its vote count, revealing an additional constituency MP seat for the Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) at the expense of the Move Forward Party (MFP), according to the EC.

Also, in the list system, the Democrat Party gained an extra seat while the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) lost one from an earlier tentative count.

With the vote count well and truly over, the EC will be releasing official election results in due course after the poll commissioners approve the rounded-off figures. A source said the poll regulator was preparing to officially announce the vote count which has now finished.

For many days after the May 14 polls, the count in the commission’s ECT Report system appeared static at 99%, which showed the MFP, the biggest party to emerge from the election, had received 113 House seats in the constituency method and the BJT, 67 seats.

A delay in the constituency vote count in Prachin Buri’s Constituency 3 had kept the final figure from being finalised. Constituency 3 is where the candidates of the BJT and the MFP were competing neck and neck.

An earlier report showed the MFP candidate had a narrow lead although the complete vote count has instead confirmed a win for the BJT candidate. As such, the MFP’s initial constituency MP tally of 113 seats is now reduced to 112 whereas the BJT’s constituency MP number was bumped up from 67 to 68.

The number of constituency MP seats were tied between the MFP and the Pheu Thai, at 112 each.

When combined with the list-MP seats, the MFP’s overall MP tally stands at 151, Pheu Thai at 141 and Bhumjaithai at 71.

Also, the Democrats have seen their list-MPs rise from two to three, with third place secured by Banyat Bantadtan, a former party leader.

However, that cost the PPRP one of two list seats it was reported to have gained earlier. The party now only has one list seat which goes to its leader, Prawit Wongsuwon.

Continue Reading

MFP to shield ‘registered businesses’

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

Licensed growers ‘should not worry’

The Move Forward Party (MFP) on Thursday assured registered marijuana growers and cannabis business operators that they would be protected, even when the new government re-lists cannabis as a narcotic.

The main objective of the party’s plan to put cannabis back on the narcotics list under a ministerial regulation of the Ministry of Public Health is to allow all state officials, including police and the Office of Narcotics Control Board, to work fully to control the abuse of cannabis, said deputy MFP leader Sirikanya Tansakun.

Some new laws will be passed to control the use, production, growing, and import and export of cannabis, which is work left undone by the caretaker government, she said.

“I insist cannabis business operators and marijuana growers will also be protected and allowed to go about their business as usual as long as they have registered and have permission to do so. A proper announcement will be issued to ensure this,” she said.

She was responding to concerns raised by groups of cannabis-related business operators and growers following the vow to list cannabis as a narcotic again, which the MFP made in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with seven prospective coalition partners on Monday.

Further discussions on the matter will be conducted among coalition partners when the new coalition is formed before any changes to the current legal measures used to control cannabis are proposed and implemented, she said.

At this point, business operators and marijuana growers who have registered properly with the government shouldn’t be worried, she said.

Prasitchai Nunual, secretary-general of a civic group calling itself the Network Writing Thailand’s Cannabis Future, on the same posted on Facebook an open letter intended for MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat.

The group called on Mr Pita to handle the cannabis issue in a democratic way, saying leaping to the conclusion that cannabis must be listed as a narcotic again will adversely affect medical cannabis.

Instead of carrying on portraying cannabis as an evil product in order to justify the move to re-list it as a narcotic, the new government should discuss more seriously and openly the facts about cannabis, as the public perception of it has now been misguided by fierce anti-cannabis campaigns by two highly popular political parties, said Mr Prasitchai.

And in the next step, all parties concerned should then be allowed to take part in discussions over which forms of legal mechanisms are suitable for use to control cannabis better, he said.

Continue Reading

Cops look at resale of cyanide

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

Police will press charges against a company that imported cyanide compounds and sold them to other retailers, after an investigation determined that alleged serial killer, Sararat “Aem Cyanide” Rangsiwuthaporn, had purchased the cyanide she used to kill at least 13 people from a reseller.

Deputy national police chief, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, met the deputy director of the Department of Industrial Works (DIW), Pornyod Klankrong, yesterday to discuss the country’s regulations on cyanide imports as public pressure mounts for the police to prevent such an incident from happening again.

The meeting, he said, was meant to find ways to plug loopholes in Thailand’s Hazardous Substances Act, and to see if there were any companies which were illegally reselling cyanide they had lawfully imported, to other parties.

He said authorities have enough evidence to press charges against one company, which police believe resold the cyanide it acquired to other parties.

The company had brought in 1,600 bottles of cyanide, 100 of which ended up with six other retailers.

“It is against the law because the sale of cyanide is restricted to research purposes or factory operations,” he said.

According to Pol Gen Surachate, a police investigation has found that at least nine other people had bought cyanide in a similar manner to Ms Sararat in order to commit suicide.

He said the police would continue their investigation and submit their report to the DIW as soon as the probe wraps up.

Continue Reading

New road for border checkpoint

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

Thailand and Malaysia have agreed to build a new road connecting the Sadao border checkpoint in Songkhla to Bukit Kayu Hitam town in Malaysia’s Kedah state to boost ties between the two countries.

The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) deputy secretary-general Chonthun Sangpoom said on Thursday that the SBPAC and state agencies joined the second meeting of the Expert Working Group (EWG) between Thailand and Malaysia to discuss the transborder road on Tuesday.

Mr Chonthun led the group that was greeted by Muhammad Haizul Azreen bin Usol Ghafli, deputy undersecretary of Malaysia’s Ministry of Works.

The working groups focused on resolving pending issues in construction, such as the uneven width of the road connecting border checkpoints on both sides.

He said Thailand’s EWG had surveyed to redesign the road link according to Malaysia’s request. They confirmed construction could proceed — as directed in the agreement — without causing any effects on Thailand’s infrastructure.

The meeting agreed to four resolutions to implement construction. First, the cross-border route connecting towns will be six lanes wide, as agreed by the Thai and Malay prime ministers during a meeting in February, he said.

Secondly, the road covering 83.88 kilometres will have an equal width on both the Thai and Malay sides.

Thirdly, Thailand has to expand the road corners from 108 degrees to 129 degrees according to Malaysia’s road regulations. Lastly, both countries must endorse a speed limit of 50-60 km/hour before passing the borderline.

Both parties agreed to execute the project within 18 months and will proceed with technical work before holding a third meeting soon.

Continue Reading

UN notes Mekong region’s ‘agricultural potential’

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

The Lower Mekong Region has a high potential to transform from a hotbed of illegal logging and forest crimes to a hub of sustainable forestry and trade, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

A seminar on “Rosewood Illegal Logging, the Forest Crimes in Lower Mekong Region” was organised on Tuesday by the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries, in Bangkok.

Akiko Inoguchi, Forest Officer of the FAO, said that illegal logging has been reduced in the Lower Mekong Region, an area shared by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. In all Lower Mekong countries, agriculture has been the main driver of deforestation while illegal logging remains, but is perceived to be at reduced levels, she said.

She said it was because of tough anti-logging measures, including an export ban on wood from natural forests, and a shift in market demand to plantation-based crops, which played a significant role in transforming the region into a hub for sustainable forestry and trade.

Global Trade Atlas cited China Customs, saying the volume of rosewood imports, which used to total about 1,100 cubic metres in 2014, has reduced to less than half that volume in 2020.

Each country is recommended to implement policies on responsible plantation development and ensure traceability.

Aomjitr Sena, officer from the Department of Royal Forest, said it has closely worked with local communities to protect and preserve the rare rosewood trees in the forest.

Forest officials patrol prime rosewood tree habitats, such as the World Heritage Site of the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest complex and the Phu Phan and Phu Sa Bua Forest complex in the northeastern region, she said.

She added that the department has also worked closely with its Cambodian counterpart to form transboundary conservation approaches by sharing real-time information on forest monitoring and illegal activities.

Katrina Borromeo, programme and communications officer at the United Nations Environment Programme, said consumers could play an important role in protecting the forest.

The organisation conducted a survey on the rosewood purchasing behaviour among Chinese customers and found that 76% reported purchasing hardwood furniture in the past two years and that 30-39-year-olds were more likely to purchase hardwood furniture in China.

One in two respondents was reportedly not aware of the negative impacts of forest crimes. The finding showed that Chinese customers did not care or think that they had a role to play in stopping illegal logging.

“A lack of awareness bears people’s ability to actively participate in combatting illegal logging and protecting forests,” Ms Borromeo said.

“Consequently, there is a consistent increase in consumer demand for forest products from 70–90%, increasing more pressure on the region’s forests,” she added.

Continue Reading

Govt extends emergency decree for three months

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

The emergency decree in force across most of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat will be extended by another three months.

Lt Gen Patchasak Patirupanont, deputy spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, said yesterday that the Emergency Situation Administration Committee met to discuss the situation in the three southernmost provinces.

The committee decided that the emergency decree will be extended for the 72nd time, from June 20 to Sept 19, he said.

The decree will be in force throughout the deep South, except in Si Sakhon, Sungai Kolok, Waeng and Sukhirin districts in Narathiwat; Yaring, Mayo, Mai Kaen and Mae Lan districts in Pattani; as well as Betong and Kabang districts in Yala.

At the meeting, Gen Prawit thanked security agencies for maintaining peace and order in the restive region and for their assistance during the election, the spokesman said.

Separately, the Move Forward Party said it would move to revoke the emergency decree, which has been in force in the deep South for 19 years, if it can form the next government. MFP deputy secretary-general Rangsiman Rome said the decree hadn’t improved the situation in the region.

Continue Reading